OPINION:
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, ripped into the FBI for its raid on President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, comparing the federal action to the Nazi regime.
And insofar as the rather ridiculous raids on Cohen’s files go — he’s got a bit of a point. These are moves that ring more of Gestapo, less of constitutional America — more of police state, less of republic, land of the law.
On Fox News, Gingrich said: “This whole thing is an absurdity. We’ve now had Paul Manafort and his wife in their pajamas at three in the morning, having the FBI break down the door. … [Now], Cohen, the lawyer, had the door taken off of the hinges at 6 in the morning.”
What happened to the rule of law?
Oh yeah — about that.
“It ain’t the rule of law when they kick in your door at three in the morning and you’re faced with armed men,” Gingrich said, The Hill reported. “And you have had no reason to be told you’re going to have that kind of treatment. That’s Stalin. That’s the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn’t be the American FBI.”
No, it shouldn’t. And the fact that it is should have all Americans, regardless of political party affiliation, worried.
Cohen today — you tomorrow. That’s the warning, pure and simple. The document that used to restrict the powers of the government, the powers of the police, is apparently no longer in effect.
It’s time to reel in the FBI and the federal authorities — restrict to desk duty, suspend or even fire the over-the-top aggressors. If not now, then it’ll never be done. In the name of the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment and all that’s common sense and just, the wings of the feds, the FBI, must be clipped.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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